


Shadow

by amidtheflowers



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Darcy is Flayed, Darcy is the Monster, Horror, and also some 80s horror creatures but we don't speak of that, before relationship there is flirting, in the ST sense not the other sense, very soft carol/darcy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:07:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26908627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amidtheflowers/pseuds/amidtheflowers
Summary: Darcy doesn't 'do' spooky. On TV, hell yes. In-person, not on your life. When Carol finally convinces her to give it a try, Darcy faces a creature unseen since the '80s...
Relationships: Carol Danvers/Darcy Lewis
Comments: 11
Kudos: 24
Collections: The Monster Mash





	Shadow

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is for the Darcyverse discord event: Darcylvania, where Darcy is the monster. It is for Week 1: Movie Monsters.
> 
> This was so much fun to write! I hope you all enjoy. This fic creeped me out just writing it. Happy Spooktober ;) Unbeta'd, all mistakes will be found and fixed in the morning as usual. I just had to share this ASAP. 
> 
> None of these characters or universes belong to me. Enjoy! x

**Shadow**

**-:-**

Inside the lounge of the Shield-turned-Sword headquarters—currently occupied by Carol Danvers, Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Darcy, and a softly snoring Wanda—Carol eyed Darcy imperiously over her third cup of coffee.

Setting it down quietly, Carol said, “Hey, Darcy.”

“Hm?”

“You busy tonight?”

“Unless a calamity strikes, nope.”

“Let’s go to a Halloween night event.”

The room stilled. Sam exchanged a glance with Bucky, pressing his lips together in a line, controlling the smile threatening to burst free.

Slowly, Darcy set down her phone and turned to Carol. She smiled sweetly. “Nah, I’ll pass.”

Carol was undeterred. “But you said that last year. This is this year. Don’t you always go on and on about fall and crunching leaves and pumpkins and spooky stuff?”

“Here we go,” Sam muttered, and Bucky nodded.

“In theory, absolutely.” Darcy drained the rest of her drink and stood from the sofa she’d been sitting on. “But that’s where it starts and ends, Danvers. I don’t do haunted houses.”

“What about haunted hayrides?” Carol followed Darcy to the bar where she poured herself another drink.

“Nope.”

“Corn mazes?”

“Not on your life.”

“Pumpkin picking? Bobbing for apples?”

“Cool it, Danvers,” Sam chortled. “She’s got a rule and nothing will ever break it. She’s—what’s that word you were laughing about yesterday?” Sam turned to Bucky.

“Weenie,” Bucky supplied, straight-faced.

Sam snapped his fingers. “That. The woman’s a weenie.”

Darcy let loose as sound of outrage. “I am _not_!”

“If the weenie hat fits…” Bucky said vaguely.

Darcy rounded on him. “Oh really? You wanna go there, candy corn?”

Bucky coughed, and Carol and Sam frowned. “Candy corn?” Carol hiked a brow.

Bucky cleared his throat and abruptly stood. “I uh, gotta sort Steve’s diabetes medication.”

“Sit your ass down, Barnes.” Sam grabbed his lapel and yanked Bucky back down on the sofa. “What the hell is candy corn about?”

“Not before Darcy answers what ‘pin the collarbone on the skeleton’ is about.” Bucky gave Darcy a challenging look.

Darcy gasped. “You. How dare.”

“Should know better than to trust the Winter Soldier with that story, doll.”

“You’re not even that! You have a new arm! You herd goats on Saturdays!”

Carol made a face. “Okay, this has gotten way weird—Darce, there’s a new place that opened across town, all Halloween-y. Things are opening up again, you know? I just thought it’d be something fun we could do. You know, together.” Carol glanced down, shrugged. “You know, before I have to be off-world again…” She glanced slyly through her lashes.

Darcy exhaled loudly, staring at a spot on the ceiling. “Damn you, Danvers.” She shook her head. “Fine. _Fine_! We’ll do your corn patch and hayride or whatever.”

Carol grinned and hugged Darcy sideways, squeezing despite Darcy’s less-than-impressed look that was totally for show. “This is gonna be _so_ fun, Darcy. That’s a Captain Marvel Guarantee.”

From the other side of the room, Wanda snorted herself awake. Blinking rapidly, she mumbled, “What’d I miss?”

**-:-**

Darcy stared up at the giant clown-faced entrance to a house of mirrors, feeling vaguely ill.

Darcy did not do spooky. Not in-person. She just _didn’t_. It just wasn’t in her. It was like being fond of sharks. It was cool to like sharks. Sharks were interesting, lots of species, lots of myths around them. Did that mean anyone wanted to be dunked inside a tank of sharks? No!

Here she was though, standing before her very own shark tank. She didn’t have a good feeling about it.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Darcy said aloud.

Sam clapped her on the shoulder. “This one’s not scary, promise. It’s just a buncha mirrors.”

Carol weaved her arm through Darcy’s and marched her to the entrance, smiling winningly down at her that felt like being blinded by a very bright, very warm sunny day, even though it was nearing dusk.

Darcy sighed.

In the end, Sam was right. It wasn’t scary at all. By the time Darcy had endured the haunted hayride, it all started feeling absurdly hilarious: some of Earth’s mightiest heroes were packed in a rickety wagon eating roasted nuts and caramel corn. Carol kept throwing her looks that made Darcy’s insides flip. It was a pretty great night.

“Last one!” Carol brought them to the corn maze. A group of teenagers came out, giggling uncontrollably.

“Watch out, Darce,” Bucky said quietly next to her. “Those were frightened laughs.”

“Ha ha,” Darcy deadpanned. “Let’s just get it over with.”

Except she was smiling as she said it, shoving a handful of caramel corn in her mouth and squeaking when Carol grabbed her hand and dragged her inside the maze.

“Why are we running?” Darcy said breathlessly, laughing.

“Because that makes it fun, duh.”

Somewhere on their next turn Carol’s hand slipped from hers, leaving Darcy to chase after her. She could hear Bucky and Sam chuckling from behind, a few paces away. 

Corn husks crunched underfoot as Darcy followed the maze trail. It must have rained earlier because her boots slipped a few times through mud patches, often on a turn.

“Carol!” Darcy slipped past twin rows of corn stalks, following the sound of Carol’s laughter. “This is so not funny, dude. Slow down!”

“ _Darcy_ …” Her name echoed distantly in the air. Darcy had to stop and gather her bearings, breath coming out in shallow puffs. She strained her ears but only heard the sound of corn stalks rustling in the wind. Even Sam and Bucky’s voices were gone.

“Guys?” Darcy called. Her heart began to race. Darcy forced a calming breath. There was nothing to panic about. Carol had brought them to a nice place, not super creepy or scary, even the corn maze’s idea of haunted was hanging bats or paper ghosts from the corn stalks here and there. In daylight, this would be a kicker. Not scary at all.

The sound of a husk crunching came from behind. Darcy whirled around, taking a step back. “Carol?”

Nothing. Darcy swallowed.

Another snap, this time right in next to her.

Darcy whirled around and ran.

“Carol!” Darcy shrieked, boots slapping hard on the ground. The corn maze detoured left and right, right and left, with no end in sight, and there weren’t even signs anymore just paths and paths and paths. She slipped on a turn and landed hard on her knees, mud splattering across her face and chest, palms imprinted in the mud. The sound of whispered laughter carried in the wind, and Darcy stumbled to her feet and started again.

 _Maybe it’s a joke. They’re messing with me_. Except Carol and Sam and Bucky weren’t those kinds of friends. They weren’t assholes. They knew how much she hated that sort of thing. They wouldn’t do this to her. They wouldn’t.

Logical dictated, then, that something bad was happening, and something _very_ bad would happen soon if she didn’t find her friends.

Darcy came to a halt when the path gave way to a small clearing. A chill went down her spine. “This is wrong,” she said inexplicably, fear closing around her throat. “This is all wrong.”

Another gust of wind threw Darcy’s hair back, a distinct rumbling carrying in the air.

Something wrapped itself around her ankle and _yanked_.

A scream tore from Darcy’s throat as her body slammed into the ground and dragged backwards, rapidly, twigs and husks and dirt sliding all down her front. She couldn’t see what it was, couldn’t hear anything above her own slide through the maze.

Suddenly the maze was gone. She was dragging along grass, concrete, then wood. Her hands scrambled desperately, catching on a doorjamb. The force _tugged_ , and Darcy screamed desperately as she slid down a wooden staircase, nails dragging frantically into anything she could hold on to.

It stopped. Darcy was forced onto her back. She was in a barn, probably somewhere near the corn maze.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust. A shadow of impossible size, with dozens of limbs, stared down at her.

Before she could scream, a limb attached itself to her mouth and everything went dark.

**-:-**

Carol landed down next to Sam and Bucky, eyes wild. “I can’t find her. She’s gone. Oh god, what the hell happened? She was _right_ behind me.”

“Maybe she left,” Sam offered, unconvinced.

“She wouldn’t,” said Bucky, looking at Carol with pointed emphasis. “She was having fun.”

Carol’s cheeks reddened and she shook her head. “We need to spread out. She could be—”

“Darcy?” Sam’s eyes went wide.

Carol turned around. Darcy walked toward them and Carol blanched. With a distressed noise, she closed the distance between them and clutched Darcy’s shoulders. “Oh my god, Darcy, what happened?! Where—what—?”

“I’m fine,” said Darcy, laughing. “I’m so silly. I got lost and uh—the corn maze won.” She gestured at the mud tracks all along her body. “You were right, Bucky. Total weenie.”

Bucky didn’t smile. “What happened to your hands?”

Darcy’s eyes widened fractionally and she stuffed her hands in her jacket pockets. “Like I said, the corn maze totally won. _Seriously_ , I’m okay,” Darcy said emphatically, stepping back when Carol tried reaching for her hands. She swerved around them and started toward the exit. “All I want right now is a long, hot shower. Can we head back now?”

“Yeah,” Carol replied, confusion coloring her voice. She exchanged worried glances with Sam and Bucky. They said nothing, following Darcy back to their car.

**-:-**

Something was very wrong with Darcy Lewis.

She stopped taking away missions. Started wearing sunglasses more. Covered up a lot—more than could be explained away. If carefully observed, it was as if she avoided the sun entirely.

Sam noticed it first. She’d been staring vacantly in the corner of the lounge, unmoving. Suddenly her head snapped around, catching him off-guard as she stared back at him. It was unnerving. Then, her face clearing, Darcy smiled brightly. “Hey Sam! What’s up?”

Carol felt it too. For months now she’d felt they were… _going_ somewhere, somewhere that they both were toeing around tentatively, but it was like a light had suddenly been turned off inside Darcy. They spent time together, laughed, had dinner, Darcy pressing a cup of coffee in Carol’s hands every so often with a mischievous glint…but something was different. Something felt off. And Carol just couldn’t shake it.

And then she’d just _disappear_. Inexplicably, for hours on end.

That was when Bucky decided to follow her.

Darcy did not work in the labs, but she liked to visit her friends down there. Bucky kept a watchful eye, maintaining a distance. She disappeared into the restroom shortly before her lunchbreak ended. Ten minutes later, she was on an elevator back to her desk.

Carefully, Bucky snuck to the restroom. He caught the faint scent of her perfume as he stepped in. There were several rows of sinks, but only one had water splashed along the drain.

Bucky frowned. A shadow flickered beyond the drain, undetectable to the human eye—but Bucky wasn’t just human anymore.

With a flick of his wrist, he popped the drain. Narrowing his eyes, Bucky leaned closer. “The hell…?”

With cybernetic fingers, Bucky reached inside. Something shrieked and wriggled against his fingers. Grimacing, Bucky grabbed it and yanked it out.

Bucky stared in disbelief, dread filling him for the first time in years.

**-:-**

Carol, Sam, Wanda, and Pepper stared at the Thing wriggling inside the plastic box Bucky dropped on the conference table.

“Darcy is possessed,” said Bucky plainly. “And I guarantee this has something to do with it.”

“You found it in the drain?” Pepper said incredulously.

“After she left it. It came out of her.”

“How can you be sure, though?” Sam asked. “It could be any number of weird shit that happens down in those labs.”

“I already had the exterior swabbed for analysis. Saliva sample came off it,” said Bucky, looking grim. “It’s Darcy’s.”

Carol cursed, raking her fingers through her head. “I just don’t get it. What the hell brought this on? What’s doing this to her? Darcy’s just _Darcy_. She’s sweet and kind and—”

“And something at the corn maze found her,” Sam finished, jaw clenching. “She wasn’t right after that. Something happened there she’s not telling us.”

“Her fingernails were torn and bleeding,” said Bucky quietly. “She fought. Hard. I…” Bucky swallowed hard, glancing away. “I know what this is like. She’s trapped inside her head and something else is shifting the gears.”

“We need to get her back,” said Wanda, frowning. “Does this creature…look familiar to you?”

Carol shook her head slowly. “I…I’m not sure. We need to research this.” She gave a hard look to her friends surrounding her. “And then we kick the ass of whatever’s got a hold of her.”

**-:-**

It was Carol who put it together.

“I knew this was familiar. I remembered hearing about this when I was still on Earth,” Carol shook her head, reading the file. “It was weird. All covered up. Something about a shadow in Hawkins, Indiana…”

“And in Sokovia,” said Wanda, grimly. “We heard of terrible experiments…magnetic forces…”

Naturally, with Pepper’s resources, the truth came spilling out.

Demogorgan.

Mind Flayer.

Upside Down.

Parallel dimensions.

There were names too—Will Byers, a girl named Eleven. All off the grid now. But Will Byers…

“Shit,” Carol cursed, slamming her fist on the table. “Shitshitshit.”

“The sauna,” said Sam definitively. “She’ll sweat that son of a bitch out and then we’ll get him.”

“Right,” said Carol, “let’s get to work.”

“I’ll make the call,” said Pepper, already dialing on her phone.

**-:-**

Darcy was cold. So cold.

She’d crawled out of the barn, choking and gasping. The world had finally stopped spinning and Darcy saw the corn maze in the distance. “Run,” she urged her feet, and Darcy stumbled forward. But then she blinked.

The world turned grey.

Cold puffs of air left her mouth. Everything was grey and blue, and flecks of _something_ floated in the air. The sky swirled red in the distance, a great calamity that made Darcy tremble.

Then, Darcy’s body was reflected back at her. Standing in front of her, her hair and clothes clean. Behind the shadow-Darcy stood an endless army of people, all staring at her.

“Who are you?” Darcy demanded. Her hands curled into fists. “You have no idea who you’re fucking with.”

Darcy watched the imposter open her mouth, saying simply, “We’re back.”

**-:-**

Darcy tried. She tried she tried she tried _not to_ she didn’t _want to_ he _made her do it—_

“Don’t make me hurt you,” Darcy growled, her voice deepening. They’d locked her inside one of the vacant labs. No windows, just a door and an ever-increasing heat. Her skin prickled. Black veins emerged along her body, up her neck, around her eyes. Her eyes turned black.

Carol’s voice came through the door. “We’re gonna help you, Darce.”

“LIAR! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you _first!_ ”

Darcy slammed her fist into the door. The metal groaned against the impact, bending. She went again. Again. The heat was overwhelming. She was sweating through her blouse. Her next punch wasn’t as clean. Darcy staggered against a lab desk, suddenly crying. “I’m sorry,” Darcy wept. “I didn’t want to he made me do it _I couldn’t stop him._ ”

Sam cursed on the other end. The heat cranked up, and Darcy’s mind went blank.

Darcy was gone. She was not Darcy. She was One of Many. She was the First, the Chosen, and she had to protect Him.

The next punch sent the door flying across the other direction.

Before Darcy could step out of the lab, a body pinned her to the floor. Carol stared down at her, quirking a brow. “Wondered how long that would take you. Now get the _hell_ out of my friend, you soulless bastard.”

Darcy growled something unintelligible and threw Carol off of her, sending her crashing into the far well. Darcy was on her within moments, grabbing her by the throat and lifting her bodily in the air.

Carol didn’t flail. She stared coolly back at Darcy, when suddenly her body glowed bright.

Darcy was on the floor again, pinned down by Carol. It was getting impossibly hot, so hot, “Please,” Darcy begged, switching back to a vulnerable voice, just as He commanded, “don’t hurt me, Carol. Carol, it’s me!”

The heat doubled. Carol’s eyes flickered, glistening, before they went pure white, a vision of starlight. “Get out of my _FRIEND!_ ”

Darcy screamed. A shadow burst from her mouth, long and shrieking, whirling around the room—until the Shadow Entity emerged, in full form, like a creature from the depths of hell itself. 

A figure moved rapidly, conjuring a portal and shoving the Shadow through. Darcy could hear it roaring, enraged, until something happened—a break. _Crack_. And Darcy finally went limp, her mind her own again.

The pain and agony were gone. Carol no longer held Darcy down, instead peering down at her worriedly. “Darcy?”

Darcy blinked wearily. Sam, Bucky, Pepper, and Wanda’s faces appeared before her. Last was Dr. Strange, appearing disheveled and exhausted, but in no less good spirits.

“That,” said Darcy, finally, “is why I don’t do Halloween nights.”

Grinning, Carol bent down and hugged Darcy tightly.


End file.
